Lyra Pramuk fuses classical training, pop sensibilities, performance practices and contemporary club culture into what can best be described as futuristic folk music. While the American opera singer and electronic musician may have been best known in the past for her work with musical collaborators such as Holly Herndon and Colin Self, she will release her debut album Fountain in March 2020 via Icelandic label Bedroom Community.
Carried entirely by her own voice, though often shaped and structured by electronics, Fountain is an emotional, sensual and devotional journey. The title derives from her family name, Pramuk, which translates from Czech as "spring" or "fountain." The often wordless songs evoke a new wholeness supported by the ritual power of drowning, immersing, cleansing and bathing - which is also referenced in the album artwork by acclaimed visual artist Donna Huanca. Fountain plays with perceptions of music, rhythms, language, the body, and the relationship between technology and humans, exploring a posthuman, non-binary understanding of life and the fragile ecosystems upon which it depends. The work documents an ongoing healing and a moment that has come full circle - a moment that reunited Lyra with her twin brother Ben, a sound engineer, for their final mix together.
As a vocal activist and member of the queer community, the creation of Fountain also coincided with a personal regeneration for the author. Completion culminated in the album's live premiere at the 2019 Unsound Festival in Krakow, where she opened for Sunn O)))) and Roly Porter over a multi-channel system designed by Ben Frost.
A closer collaboration with Frost on a soundtrack for a new film project will be announced later in 2020. Her January 30 performance at Berghain as part of the CTM Festival in her hometown of Berlin promises an even more confident and upbeat take on the album's song cycle.
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